Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Cardinals have offered Matt Holliday an eight-year contract worth about $16 million per year.
On the off chance that it’s accepted, it’d be the biggest contract in Cardinals history, overtaking the seven-year, $100 million deal that Albert Pujols is two years away from finishing up.
If the $16 million figure is right, then the contract would be worth a total of $128 million, making it the 11th biggest pact in baseball history. It’d be the third biggest for an outfielder behind Manny Ramirez’s eight-year, $160 million contract with Boston and Alfonso Soriano’s eight-year, $136 million contract with the Cubs.
The talks, though, are likely some time from being over. If Holliday appreciates the idea of being able to finish his career in St. Louis, he might be open to the lengthy deal. Agent Scott Boras, though, was expecting a contract worth right around $20 million per year when the winter opened.

Something inside me tells me that this would be a good deal for Holliday. That means he’d be guaranteed 16 million dollars when he’s 38 years old and he’d get to stay in the NL where he’s hit .322. Assuming he can still pound the ball after his contract his up he could possibly land with an AL club being the DH and rack up a few more million. That sounds like pretty good job security if you ask me.

This is a surprisingly generous offer by the Cardinals. It shows clearly that they want & need Holliday as a long-term power, & it tops by far anything offered so far. I doubt any team will make a better offer. If Holliday is smart, he won’t wait, he’ll sign now.
Of course, it is not surprising that Scott Boras isn’t satisfied & wants to milk the Cardinals, or some other team, for more, even if such a ploy is not in Holliday’s best interests. Boras may claim that he is doing what’s best for his players, in this case Holliday, but that would be disingenuous, as such greed does not benefit baseball or any sport in the long run.

This is a commitmen to wining BB by St. Louis. Good for you. I do hope he sees the long term $$ of this and takes it. S.B. will not want him to, and neither will S.B.’s in there pocket team (NYY).
But for all of BB I pray that M.H. Take this great offer. Him and Albet for the next 8 years.. Ochy.

This deal is a farce based more on length than market value. I think, and obviously I do not know Holliday personally, a 6 year deal for similar total money would be more enticing. Getting another deal at 36 is going to be a lot easier than at 38 and puts him at around $21 million/year rather than $16 million.

I don’t know. The Phillies, Red Sox, Mariners, Cardinals are all throwing the big bucks around like they’re the Yankees. But I don’t hear any outrage coming from anyone around the major leagues concerning the money that’s being spent. That only happens when it’s the Yankees spending the money. And why is that? If it’s wrong, and “if” is the big word there, but if it’s wrong it’s wrong across the board. There are no degrees of wrong. One isn’t less wrong than another. Wrong is wrong.

Baseball is spending itself to financial ruin.
Competitiveness is a joke if you have just a handful
of teams that can afford to make such an offer
to, basically, an above average outfielder.
I saw a few of Holliday’s road games when he
played in the AL for Oakland last year.
He was not hitting and his outfield
defense was nothing special.
Looks like some sucker team will get a few
years of decent production(if that many)
out of Holliday and then regret paying every
year after those 2 years after his skills
fall off the cliff and production becomes
very mediocre.
Both leagues have many players whose contracts
now look very foolish because of lack of production:
Magglio Ordonez? Gary Matthews Jr? Soriano?
Juan Pierre?? Barry Zito? Gary Sheffield?
Milton Bradley? and on and on and on.
You have to hand it to Super Agent Boros
he gets top dollar for his players even
when they do not deserve it.
MLB needs a true system of complete revenue
sharing and a true salary floor and cap
like the NFL.
Only then will MLB have true parity and competitiveness.

Baseball is spending itself to financial ruin.
Competitiveness is a joke if you have just a handful
of teams that can afford to make such an offer
to, basically, an above average outfielder.
I saw a few of Holliday’s road games when he
played in the AL for Oakland last year.
He was not hitting and his outfield
defense was nothing special.
Looks like some sucker team will get a few
years of decent production(if that many)
out of Holliday and then regret paying every
year after those 2 years after his skills
fall off the cliff and production becomes
very mediocre.
Both leagues have many players whose contracts
now look very foolish because of lack of production:
Magglio Ordonez? Gary Matthews Jr? Soriano?
Juan Pierre?? Barry Zito? Gary Sheffield?
Milton Bradley? and on and on and on.
You have to hand it to Super Agent Boros
he gets top dollar for his players even
when they do not deserve it.
MLB needs a true system of complete revenue
sharing and a true salary floor and cap
like the NFL.
Only then will MLB have true parity and competitiveness.

Mariners throwing big bucks?
Mariners signed Jr. to a 1 year deal for $2M+ incentives.
Mariners signed Chone Figgins to a $36M deal for 4 years. (Beltre’s previous 5 year deal for $64M cost more per year…)
Jack Wilson re-signed for a 2 year/$10M deal, coughing up $1M for the next 2 years to get rid of Betancourt.
Minor league deals for Cory Patterson and a few others. That’s all the ink that’s on paper.
Even with the year with Cliff Lee (if it goes through) at $9M, they’ve still got plenty to lock down Felix to a well-deserved contract and be players for Jason Bay if they decide to go that way.
They’re in on a lot of deals, but Z knows how to get value for the team’s dollars. I’m very excited to see how the rest of the off-season plays out.

Wel-l-l,not so fast. Pujols comes off his deal in two years. If they’re giving Holliday this kind of money and security, what do you think Prince Albert is going to want out of an extension in his walk year in 2011? Dear Buddha, he’s going to want something that makes A-Rod’s temporary albatross effect on the Rangers look like the curse of the Wandering Jew. Who on the face of this lonely speck in the cosmos do you think is going to be able to afford two contracts like that? The Borg and who else? The Cardinals? Please. They give Albert what he’s gonna want, they will field a team of Pujols, Holliday and seven other current sandlot ballplayers to be named later for what they’ll have left to spend. If they have anything left to spend. Committing to Holliday like this is an almost sure guarantee of watching Albert play in Borg pinstripes in 2012.

Okay AJ lets look at thpe why people always complain about New York.
2009 Payroll
Yankees – 208,097,414
Phillies – 111,209,046
Red Sox – 122,435,399
Mariners – 112,053,666
Cardinals – 87,703,409http://espn.go.com/mlb/teams/salaries?team=phi
God forbid anyone try and keep competitive with the YANKEES!! Give me a break St. Louis finally tries to land more than one IMPACT player and keep up with the rest of the majors including the Cubs which are in their division and have a payroll of 134,058,500. The numbers don’t lie, the number 2 team in the payroll list is NY Mets with 145,367,987, a whopping 62,729,427 difference, which would pay for Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter with about 10 million to spare. HMMMMM!, why do people get all outraged???

Cards have a low payroll, but need to lock up wain, ap, carp, etc. Plus they are saving some money losing glaus this year. AP says team competitivness is a top priority- Cards showing they are committed.

Cards have Wainright, Carpenter and Lohse signed for multi-year. Waino was in his first year of new contract in 2009. Also, Carp has at least 2 years left. If he is still pitching well, probably would work with the Cards Organization as they have paid him well even when he missed two seasons in a row.
I think the Cards are being more than fair for Holliday and once signed ( if Boras doesn’t screw it up for greed )Mo will put all attention back to Albert for a lifetime contract. Pujols has stated numerous times for his love of St Louis and will make good with long-term Contract. It doesn’t need to be A-PED…oops, A-Rod money per say…but will avg 20 mil or so a season. I think Albert does recognize the amount of money it is to where he is happy. He wants a winning team every year and the Cards have done that within a reasonable payroll.

Your logic is partially flawed in that much of the Yankee’s payroll is due to overpaying their own players for no reason other than to reward them for their service. Obviously Derek Jeter’s value on the open market isn’t $21.6 million/year but it is for the Yankees. The next highest paid SS, is Tejada who makes $7 million/year fewer than Jeter and it is arguable whether he’s even a SS anymore and arguably the best SS in baseball, Hanley Ramirez only makes $5.5 million/year. So say Jeter is overpaid by $10+ million/year and for no other reason than compensation for his contribution to the Yankees, they didn’t buy him.
Similarly, Mariano Rivera makes $15 million/year for his contributions to the Yankees. Compare him to someone with similar HOF credentials and someone else who is one of the best current closers in baseball, Trevor Hoffman and Jonathan Papelbon respectively, each make in the neighborhood of $6 million/year, $6 and $6.25 million/year respectively. Say there’s another, at least, $5+ million/year in overpayments. Jorge Posada makes $13.1 million/year compared to other catchers of similar age and ability such as Jason Varitek or Jason Kendal or A.J. Pierzynski who make $5, $5 and $6.25 million/year respectively which adds another $5+ million/year the Yankees are overpaying players for their contributions. Not to mention that Pettite is worth nowhere near his new contract on the open market either and that the Rangers gave A-Rod his current deal and the extra $5 or so million/year after he opted out were just to make him happy, he wasn’t in danger of going anywhere else because no one was going to pay him that kind of money.
As demonstrated, much of the salary disparity isn’t due to “buying a WS” but rather rewarding guys for winning WS’s, 5 to be exact.

Some very valid points have been made but I arrive at a different conclusion. The Cardinals are and have been a very intelligent organization. They are playing Scot Boras. They fully do not anticipate that Holliday will accept the deal which will allow them to move on to their Plan B or Plan C options. What they do accomplish is to demonstrate to their fans, baseball and more importantly to King Albert is that they are committed to winning. Additionally, King Albert won’t have wandering eyes about his contract as they will still maintain the salary room to offer him ridiculous money which he most likely deserves. If Holliday accepts, fine. They will utilize him for his value and trade him right before he becomes useless.

People see this as a vain attempt at “Keeping up with the Yankees”. Having a marginally winning team currently requires spending idiotic money to maintain any continuity or competitive advantage. The Yankees are not the cause, only the benficiaries of this stupid MLB approach. Resentment for what they have bought will never be equalled by any other franchise. So accept it, don’t keep trying to make rationalizations for why everyone else is immune to criticism.

As demonstrated, much of the salary disparity isn’t due to “buying a WS” but rather rewarding guys for winning WS’s, 5 to be exact.
-Tex, Sab and Giambi were just good ‘ole farm system products huh? That’s why the wank’s GM went out and spent $200 mil on other team’s players right?

It is a shock to see the Cards be this aggressive. If Holliday enjoys the team and the city, one would think he would not over negotiate it. But, Scott Boras is the guy who bid the Mets up on Beltran and then called the Yanks and offered him for less. Who knows what Mr. Boras will do.